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A Franklin County Common Pleas jury convicted a man of murder yesterday, finding that he doused
a crack-house doorman with gasoline in 2005 before a second man dropped a lighted piece of paper on
the victim inside the Franklinton drug den.

Shane D. Albert, 41, whose last-known address was on the South Side, also was convicted of
aggravated arson and kidnapping in the burning death of 48-year-old Charles “Frank” Calloway.
Jurors reached their verdict after about five hours of deliberation over two days.

When authorities were called to 274 S. Dakota Ave. on Oct. 16, 2005, they discovered a severely
burned Calloway and suspected that he had fallen asleep while smoking on a couch. He died the next
day.

An investigator initially ruled the fire an accident. But in 2009, a tip prompted Columbus
homicide detectives to revisit the case. During the next two years, they spoke to witnesses who
confided that Calloway’s death had been a deliberate act by Albert and Ullman “Julius” Taylor.

Police charged Taylor first. On Aug. 8, 2012, the same day that Taylor pleaded guilty to
involuntary manslaughter, aggravated arson and kidnapping, cold-case detectives obtained a warrant
charging Albert with the murder.

Taylor was sentenced to

25 years in prison in a deal that hinged in part on him testifying against Albert this week.

During two days of trial testimony, jurors heard how Taylor and Albert confronted Calloway
because they believed he had information about a shooting at the crack house two days earlier.

Taylor admitted to lighting a piece of paper and dropping it onto Calloway but said Albert had
poured the gasoline on the victim.

Defense attorney Blaise Baker said in his closing argument that Taylor and the other witnesses
were liars out to save themselves.

“These people have no souls whatsoever,” he told jurors.

Assistant Prosecutor Doug Stead conceded that the witnesses to the crime were unsavory but also “
consistent and credible” when it came to the events of Oct. 16, 2005.

“You don’t get doctors and lawyers and clergy in a crack house,” he told the jury.

He and Assistant Prosecutor James Lowe noted that other witnesses, including a cousin of Albert’s
, received nothing for their testimony.

“You may not like any of these people,” Lowe told the jurors, “but they told the truth.”